U.S. Breaks New Record in Daily Coronavirus Cases For Second Day in a Row, Topping 118,000 New Infections

Public domain image by Alachua County, Florida.

The United States has reached yet another grim milestone in the coronavirus pandemic — with the number of daily cases coming very close to 120,000, following another milestone this week where it passed 100,000 daily cases.

Per CNN, upwards of 118,000 new cases were reported Thursday, along with close to 1,200 reported deaths.

A number of states are still reporting record high case numbers, and hospitalizations are up as well.

North Dakota hit over 2,000 cases per million today, a record in our data for any state.

Many states have set new record highs for cases in the last week. pic.twitter.com/nz5UIDmrw2

— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) November 6, 2020

North Dakota hit over 2,000 cases per million today, a record in our data for any state.

Many states have set new record highs for cases in the last week. pic.twitter.com/nz5UIDmrw2

— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) November 6, 2020

Looking at the weekly numbers, more than 600,000 new cases were reported from Thursday to Wednesday. Tests rose slightly. Hospitalization rose 14%. And deaths climbed for the 4th straight week. pic.twitter.com/z5Zita5vjr

— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) November 6, 2020

While the smaller Midwest states were the first to see case and hospitalization surges, the problems have begun to hit the populous states like Illinois. pic.twitter.com/0wsch14tkA

— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) November 6, 2020

While long-term care facility data continues to be patchy, what we do know is grim: Cases continued to rocket upward last week with 19,086 new cases and 1,839 new deaths among staff and residents. More than a quarter of these cases were in just three states: IL, OH, and TX.

— The COVID Tracking Project (@COVID19Tracking) November 6, 2020

Recently Dr. Anthony Fauci warned about how poorly positioned the U.S. is as the pandemic surges in a number of states, and the White House response to his interview was to attack their own health expert and accuse him of being part of “The Swamp.”

Additionally, there was reporting that Dr. Deborah Birx has been sounding the alarm internally about the need for more aggressive action on the pandemic.

President Donald Trump — who falsely insisted in the final leg of his campaign that the U.S. is “rounding the turn” — repeatedly complained about the media covering the global coronavirus pandemic so much and predicted that after November 4th, the press would stop covering it so much.

ALL THE FAKE NEWS MEDIA WANTS TO TALK ABOUT IS COVID, COVID, COVID. ON NOVEMBER 4th, YOU WON’T BE HEARING SO MUCH ABOUT IT ANYMORE. WE ARE ROUNDING THE TURN!!!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2020

Until November 4th., Fake News Media is going full on Covid, Covid, Covid. We are rounding the turn. 99.9%.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 27, 2020

Covid, Covid, Covid is the unified chant of the Fake News Lamestream Media. They will talk about nothing else until November 4th., when the Election will be (hopefully!) over. Then the talk will be how low the death rate is, plenty of hospital rooms, & many tests of young people.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2020

Earlier Thursday, in his brief address on the vote-counting, Joe Biden began his remarks referencing the briefing he and Kamala Harris received on the coronavirus pandemic. He said, “We’re reminded again of the severity of this pandemic. Cases are on the rise nationwide and we’re nearing 240,000 deaths due to covid. And our hearts go out to each and every family that has lost a loved one to this terrible disease.”